Weekly Capsule Reviews – 10/04/2016

Leaves your faith in guitar-based rock intact even if the alt-metal tag puts you off. Chino Moreno’s screams are nearly unwarranted and always as unnecessary as he feels they aren’t, but they’re kept to a minimum. And I will admit they mostly work. (8/10) [Dorney’s Top Records of 2016: #27]

Pet Shop Boys – Super (01/04/2016 – x2 (self-released))

The dance legends are nostalgic in words and not just in sound. If they continue to be as facetious as “I studied history while you did biology/To you the human body didn’t hold any mystery” and “We were young but imagined we were so sophisticated/Telling everyone we knew that rock was overrated”, I’ll take it just fine. And whether the latter’s statement is aimed at music or narcotics (or both), neither is wrong. (7/10)

EERA – EERA (04/03/2016 – House Arrest Records) – (EP)

PJ Harvey would be proud and this has more guile than any of the soppy drudgery which has gone before it. (6/10)

Lust for Youth – Compassion (18/03/2016 – Sacred Bones Records)

To my eternal discontent, the rest of this album comes nowhere near the ethereal reverence of “Display”. Shucks. (6/10)